Tell no one
by Haxong
Summary: The third part of Charles Potters epic adventure:Harry's evil twin has allied himself with diary-Riddle, raised his own flock of followers amongst the Slytherins and begins his path to world domination. Until now he has been acting in the shadows. But how long will he be able to keep up with all his fake identities, especially when the original Voldemort is still out for his blood?
1. Prolog

Hello folks!

No, I'm afraid I'm still on vacation BUT I'm now with a friend who's got a notebook, which means I can type again. I used the first chance I got to present you with this new fanfiction. Again, I do not plan on writing seven of this kind and since I already killed Dumbledore, this will be one hell of an AU. You have been warned.

For those of you who are new: Harry's got an evil twin named Charles who allied himself with diary-Riddle, raised his own flock of followers and is now well on his way to conquer the wizarding world. But let's not forget: There's more then just one Voldemort out there!

* * *

Somewhere down in the depths of a forest so wide and so dark no sunlight ever touched the ground a circle of candles illuminated the darkness of the night. Within the circle laid the trembling body of a middle-aged man. Although there were no visible restrains on him he couldn't move one inch and was forced to look up at his captor. The figure looming over him wore a hooded cloak that obscured his face as he made strange hissing noises that almost sounded like chanting. The hostage watched in horror as out of the dark forest a shadow rose. At first its shape was indiscernible but as it got closer, circling the man as if judging him, he recognized a human face in it. A terrible grimace filled with malice and dark promises. The mask of the devil. Then the shadow came down on the poor man and if he had any voice left he would have screamed.

Lord Voldemort was not pleased. Finally, when there came his long awaited follower, all he was offered was a disgusting muggle! Granted, even possessing muggles had been too much for him without the proper ritual to provide him with the magic but at the very least the guy could've used a wizard!

Still, it was the first help he had received since Quirrel and he was determined to not let his displeasure show. Still the ritual was a sloppy one. It was by no means an actual resurrection. It barely allowed him to speak using the muggles mouth and to move, using his body but even that effect would only last an hour at most before the victim died.

"Reveal yourself, my dear follower", the Lord hissed when the spell that bound the muggle was released and he was able to stand.

The figure slowly dropped the hood.

Lord Voldemort had expected Snape or Rookwood or even Thorfinn, one of those Death Eaters he knew through Quirrel had never been arrested. Malfoy would've probably surprised him, since the man had proven to be a coward in the end. But he most certainly hadn't expected to see a younger version of himself.

"I am not your follower", Tom Riddle said clearly. "Nor am I your partner. I am your successor."  
Lord Voldemort hissed angrily but Riddle didn't give him any time to speak: "You had your chance in conquering Britain and you failed. Quite miserably so if I might add. When I first heard what became out of you I was astonished to which depths I could sink. You have split your soul so often, each time sacrificing a part of yourself that you're barely recognizable as me anymore."

"How dare you speak to me like this!? You have no idea what I accomplished! I had the wizarding world at my feet already!"  
"You mean before you were defeated by a toddler", Riddle stated coldly.

"Do not tell me that you would've known what would happen. Do not tell me you would've done anything different."  
"Maybe not", Riddle admitted. "But unlike you, I have learned from my mistakes. I will get to the point because quite frankly, your presence is disgusting. I have my own army. I'll have my Death Eaters back soon. I got Dumbledore out of the way and Britain is completely unprepared against me. This is the only chance I'll ever give you. The chance to be part of the new world order I'm going to make. You can fight with me or you can fight against me. It's your choice."

Voldemort stared at his younger self incredulously.

"You're setting _me _an ultimatum? Boy, you might be me but you have barely a sixth of my experience."  
"And you only have three hundredth percent of our soul. I have you at my mercy. I could burn down this whole forest with fiendfyre and see how you like that."  
"You would not dare", Voldemort sneered. "You know what would happen if even a single piece of our soul is lost forever. Do not make threats that you aren't ready to back up."

Riddle was silent for a moment. "Will you work with me or not?", he asked finally.

"Merlin will rise anew to crush the monarchy and Atlantis will appear from the depths of the oceans and Slytherin and Gryffindor will walk the corridors of Hogwarts hand in hand before I _ever _take any commands from you!"

Riddle sighed. "I take that as a no."  
"I will _destroy _you! I will crush and torture you before I put you back into that blasted diary and lock you away where no sentient being will ever stumble over you ever again!"

"No need to be so hostile", Riddle muttered. Voldemort began to start another tirade, actually taking a step forward as if he wanted to strangle Riddle with his borrowed body. Riddled whipped out his wand and with a precise slashing motion he severed the Muggles head. Out of the wound black smoke poured onto the ground. Riddle watched impassively as the shadow that was Lord Voldemort let out a silent scream of anger and hatred before it fled back into the forest.

Riddle vanished the corpse and all leftovers. Then he disapperated.

Deep in the woods Lord Voldemort was brooding and plotting for his vengeance. His younger self truly was inexperienced. By killing the muggle he had interrupted the ritual before Voldemort could spend all the magic he had borrowed. He was still only in his spirit form but he was now stronger then he had ever been before. Strong enough to try another attempt like he did with Quirrel without having to wait a decade for it. He would get the boy eventually. He just had to find a loyal follower.


	2. Summer Camp

It was a sunny summer day at the Rumania Dragon Resort. No clouds covered the sky but occasionally the shadow of great leathery wings would obscure it. The dragons were having a field day. Nobody was there to supervise them as they hunted wild animals, fought each other or took a bath in the river. Their humans were otherwise occupied and the dragons made sure to use the free time before they had to play according to the rules again.

On a sunny hill surrounded by forest a group of children, who counted as teenagers only barely stood in front of the figure of a black haired boy with a lighting shaped scar on his forehead.

Charles Potter paced in front of the assembled group, wearing a scowl that had everybody tense up.

"Alright guys", I exclaimed, "and girls, of course. All of you chose to come here on your own but I doubt you know what you signed up for. Albus Dumbledore is dead. The Dark Lord is going to come back to life soon. We only have one year, two if we're lucky, to prepare for the war that is sure to come. It will be a war that will shake the very foundations of our community. We have trained during the last three years. Most of your only had the Outtakes to practice, some even continued at home. Faced with real dark wizards however, this means nothing. Our Defense Professors taught as everything except defense against the Dark Arts at best and nothing at all at worst. Now with this change of plan I need you to develop even faster. Not through a crash course; the past year was an entire crash course. You know the spells, you can cast them. What you now need is battle experience." I looked everyone who stood in the front line into the eyes. My entire nest was there; Draco, Theo, Daphne, Tracey as well as Hermione, Lisa and Neville. Behind them a couple of younger students who would soon be second and third years where assembled. New Recruits, the only one known to me by name before I got them into the Outtakes was Colin Creevy.

"For the duration of your stay in this camp I won't be your classmate. I will be the Raven. I don't want to see any competition here. We're here to practice teamwork. But not only that. I know you won't ask any questions. None of you ever do and that is precisely why I trust you. I want to present you with a hypothetical scenario. Let's say there is this muggle orphanage that has a really bad reputation. They don't even try to make the place seem happy. The children are being bullied, donations go to the caretakers instead of buying better clothes for the children, stuff like that. Now I know for a fact that there are a lot of muggleborns out there with parents who detest the fact that their children got magic. They see those children as freaks, as being possessed by the devil or simply evil beings. They want to give those children away to an orphanage and just because they're afraid or angry or being stupid bastards they chose that awful orphanage to drop of their children. You can go and check for yourselves, all around the world orphaned muggleborns somehow always end up in the worst kind of places. If they aren't dripped off there by their parents then the caretakers will transfer them because the accidental magic of these children is causing all kinds of problems and complications.

Now let's say we want to change that. We want to have a law that allows us to check on young orphaned muggleborns. Maybe we even want to have magical orphanages. I'm not the first to have this idea. There have been made numerous attempts to get something like that passed but people just don't bother to go through with it. Nobody ever prints stuff like that in the papers. What can we do to draw attention to this kind of problems?" I paused for a moment before I continued:

"We need to get people fighting for the rights of magical children who are being abused my muggles. But that would mean fighting against muggles, and that's a terrible and dark and evil thing to do. Who fights against muggles? Death Eaters do. So let's say there was a group of Death Eaters rampaging through the village this hypothetical orphanage stands in. The orphanage is just one of many places destroyed but people will pay special attentions to it because it holds the only magicals in the village. People would come and fight the Death Eaters and the Death Eaters would flee eventually. It would be one great mess to obilivate all the muggles but of course there wouldn't be any reason to obilivate the muggleborns, even if they're to young to visit Hogwarts yet. They couldn't but notice the conditions those children had to live under. Now the uproar of the media about the Death Eater attack could be used to introduce the issue of the muggleborns. You can't protect every muggle village from magical attacks but you could protect every place with a few muggleborns in it that would be most likely to attract a Death Eater attack, since everybody knows those are after muggleborns too. If that is not enough soon somebody would get the idea of just putting all the muggleborn orphans into one orphanage. Protecting that would be far easier.

You know that I'm neither on the dark, nor on the light side. I always was and always will be my own side. It's a side that will stay secret and that nobody of must tell anybody about. That is why I have to use the other two sides to accomplish my aims. I will need half of you to act as fake Death Eaters attacking people and locations that need better protection and I need the second half of you to fight the first and to make sure people draw the right conclusions from it. When it gets serious the battles will be staged but for now I want each side to fight all out. We will try different combinations each time. For now, I want you to sort yourself alphabetically. The first half is presenting the Auror corps, the second are fake Death Eaters. Get to work."

While the students went to sort themselves accordingly I paced in front of them and gave out commands.

"We're doing our very first battle simulation today. I expect you to be horrible at it. But if you can't see your own faults clearly you'll just complain when I set you up for teamwork exercises. Team Light, you'll protect this hill. Death Eaters, hide in the forest and take them down. Use every spell you know that doesn't cause permanent damage. Don't worry, the resort has good healers..."

As it turned our I was right – they were horrible. However they had a full three weeks of training ahead of them and I was confident that by the end of it I could make them to work with each other.

The next day I took out my time turner as usual, went back 24 hours, drank a dose of elixir of life and an aging potion before making the slight adjustments in my appearance that turned me into Lestat Raven.

Disguised like that I went to welcome the next batch of recruits. It was a group of soon-to-be fifth to seventh years from both Hogwarts and Durmstrang. A couple of them I knew because they had siblings in my nest but aside from the Weasley twins I wasn't on first-name basis with anyone of them. Of course the twins wouldn't recognize me either aside from the obvious resemblance that I had explained away via relation.

Tom was already waiting for me as I came to assist him in forging our future main force. He too had prepared a similar welcoming speech about the war to come and the need to clean up the mess this world had become. I let him take the lead and for the moment just enjoyed the indeed very impressive show. Tom began his lessons with individual dueling and practically humiliated each and every one of the students. Then he partnered with me just to show what a real duel was supposed to look like.

Now unlike Tom or even Harry I wasn't exactly a genius at Defense. My strength didn't lay in dueling at all. I was quite good at charms but what made me really powerful was my talent to pull other people over at my side and to plan ahead to get all sorts of powerful magical artifacts. Still whenever I had visited Tom and especially during the last few weeks I had practiced a lot and trained together with him. Nekrys too gave me lessons and I used some turner time to practice in the Room of Requirement on my own. With all that time travel under my belt I was already almost a year older then I appeared during to the elixir of life. Count to that that I was very creative in using charms and transfiguration I was able to at least provide a decent show before Tom pulled out the big guns and utterly crushed me. I couldn't help but compare us to the brains and brawn.

This group too was separated into two teams who were to battle each other. Each group were to protect a flag on their own that symbolized their stronghold and to conquer the flag of the other team. This exercise ended as a bit more of a success. Somehow the twins managed to make the opposing team so angry that they went head over heels to crush them only to run right into dozens of traps they had set up. The smell of so many dung bombs being dropped in their heads was absolutely disgusting. I thought the whole thing was quite funny but Tom was not impressed. This was supposed to be a practice for battle not a prank war. He threw a few more insults around until I had to all but physically restrain the Weasleys from pranking the Dark Lord.

The next morning, after almost running into my younger self on the way to the bathroom, I went back another 24 hours, took another dose of my potions and morphed into the middle aged Raven.  
As the Raven (no first name needed) I met up with Sirius and Remus who were in charge of the werewolves. Other then the students who came for the summer camp, these people were actually being prepared for their first battle. Remus had been training them for a month now and Sirius had worked with them for another three before that. I was here to test them.

The wolves didn't know exactly what the plan was (nobody but Tom and I did), they were merely being given a number of spells to learn.

"We've divided the wolves into three packs", Sirius explained to me once I arrived. "One specialized on dueling, one on physical shielding charms and patronus and one on dragon riding. You said you'd take over the last one yourself so Remus and I mainly worked on our teamwork with the other packs. Remus leads the shielding unit, I take care of the dueling team."

"Alright", I said, "let's test the shielding unit first. Black, please let you wolves attack the unit with rocks and boulders, as large and as heavy as they can."

When the wolves were busy I took Sirius aside for a private word.

"Have you told Lupin yet what the goal of this mission is?", I wanted to know.

"I had to", he admitted, "he wouldn't leave me alone about it. At first he outright refused to free the Death Eaters... He wanted to quit his job and everything. He even wanted to take his pack with him. But none of the wolves would follow him. They think... They think that this is the fist real chance to change anything they were given in decades. Even counting the Dark Lord! Remus still doesn't like it but he doesn't want them to be caught either. I'll keep an eye on him. He won't make any problems."

"I sincerely hope you are right", I said. "For his sake."

The performance of the shielding unit was good enough. Next I watched the dueling team fighting each other. I wished I would have more experience or at least something to compare their skills to other then the books. But at least they weren't just using stunners and disarming spells. That would have to be enough.

Dragon riding was another matter entirely. I had trained the animals personally, drilling them to fly in formations, spit fire all at once to accumulate a gigantic explosion and the like. Last week I came up with a system of simple commands presented in the form of multiple colored sparks and whirling lights that would translate for certain maneuvers. Both the dragons and the air force were to memorize those signs. While I was confident about the dragons abilities the werewolf air force now had to show me that they could handle the dangerous creatures just as well.

In the evening I turned back into Lestat after checking the time and making sure that the me from 24 hours ago wasn't around anymore and went to my meeting with Riddle.

"They're ready", was the first thing I said as I entered the room.

"About time", the Dark Lord muttered. "This werewolf won't make any problems?"  
"If you're talking about Lupin, then no. Black has him under control."

"Control over Luin is only as good as control over Black. Black we only control through Potter and you are the one to control Potter." He looked up at me over his hands folded under his chin. "There are far too many gaps between me and the general of our main army for my liking."  
"Lupin will not abandon Black", I said with certainty. "He's all that's left from his happy little world. He lost him once, he won't risk it again. Plus, there are the wolves themselves and I got them under control directly. Lupin is a great pack leader but he's not irreplaceable. We don't have to worry about Potter. His fate was sealed the moment he agreed to work with us. Someone as famous as him can never be a spy. Nobody will ever trust him again if this gets out and it will, eventually. As long as we don't force him to do anything he absolutely doesn't want to, we're fine."  
"Still, why do we have to put people who have to be blackmailed in charge anyway? I have Death Eaters who could do the job."  
"They're not just any people, Marvolo. They're important pieces of chess. They're key figures. I want to have them on my side because them working for the light could be very dangerous for us. Killing them however would be a waste of potential. You can't conquer the world with a herd of sheep. You need a pack of wolves."

"You're calling my Death Eaters a herd of sheep!?"  
"That's what they are because that's what you made them to be", I scoffed. "Let's face it, the only decision your counterpart ever let them make is which of his shoes to lick first."

That seemed to seriously piss him off so I hurried to say: "I'm not saying he didn't have his hounds too. Wild mindless beasts, for sure, but loyal to the bone and useful if given a bit of freedom. But those all ended up in Azkaban. Which is why we have to get them back."

"I still think it would be better to train them a little longer. For example, if we were to strike on Halloween..."  
I shook my head. "Really, _Tom, _that's so predictable! Everyone would know it was you. We want to mislead people, remember? The Quidditch World Cup is perfect. The whole ministry is tense, embarrassing them in front of the whole continent will shake them to the core. Security will be concentrated on the game. As soon as Malfoy starts his 'Drunken Death Eater Wannabee Attack' the place will be swarmed with aurors and nobody will be there to protect the prison. Nobody but the dementors, who just so happen to work for us. It's a fool proof plan and I won't have you mess this up just because you want to celebrate Halloween."

"You have absolutely no idea of the dark traditions, of-"  
"No, I don't", I admitted freely, "and I don't care either way. But we will _not_ come to the habit of accumulating our attacks on a single day each year. It will make us predictable, it will make us weak and I won't have it. No attacks on Halloween anymore. Don't force me to take out the sickle, _Tom, _this is non-negotiable."

Riddle glared at me even harder at the mention of the sickle that I had forced him to relocate his soul to last year. The sickle that was in my possession and that could be destroyed with but a word from me. I didn't like to remind him that I was holding his life in my hands but sometimes it was necessary to keep him on his toes.

Of course I didn't tell him the whole truth. There were other reasons why I wanted to hit the wizarding world during the world Cup. For one I planned to be present as Charles to have a decent alibi. I didn't think anyone would connect the dots just yet but you can never be sure. Also Harry wanted to spent time with me and it was important that I stayed as close to him as I could be bothered so that my betrayal would later crush him more thoroughly. The main reason however was that Luna would be online during the Cup. It was the only occasion aside from the choosing of the champions and the three tasks of the tournament that she would be able to cover for me during this year. Only when she was online could she be asked to start over the mission should it fail. Of course Tom didn't need to know that.


	3. Breakout

Hi folks...

I know. it's been a long time. I'm doing my best. Well, no, actually, that's not true. I just wasn't in the right kind of mind to write further if you know what I mean. It took me ages just to finish this chapter. But we're making process, however slowly it may go.

XxX

Campside in the wilderness

I was stepping from one foot to the other and back again and looked around nervously.

"Calm down, Charles", Luna said soothingly. "Everything will be alright."  
"Yeah?", I exclaimed, "how do you know that? I mean, how often did we have this conversation already?"

She sighed. "We only had it once."

I stiffed. "What happened?"  
"Your plan had a tiny flaw. I already told you about it."

This morning when I came to collect Luna to take her to the Quidditch World Cup she had told me I should remember that sending a dragon patrol with the boats that were to transport the prisoners was a _bad _idea.

"Well, according to you the aurors tried to stop these boats first by freezing the water. The dragon meant to fry them all but when he landed the ice couldn't hold him and he ended up drowning."

I was silent for a moment. "Wait, that's it? I didn't die?"

"No. But the dragon's rider was Lupin and you wanted to keep him so you told me to reset."

"Oh." Considering how often Luna had to reset the game when we fought Dumbledore I supposed that meant I was getting better.

"Now let's stop worrying and enjoy the game, shall we?"

"Alright..."

Only when we could make out a group of redheads in the distance did I stop one last time. "That reminds me... the second part of our plan... Is it going to go smoothly too?"

Luna rolled her eyes. "Yes it is! Just do everything the way you think is best. Now come _on!"_

"Charles!"

Harry had finally spotted me and came over, grinning and waving with his new omiculars.

"I was wondering if you would come at all", he said breathlessly.

"Draco would have my head if I missed the World Cup", I said with a small smile.

Harrys grin faltered a bit. "You didn't bring him though, did you?"

"Nah. Just Luna. Though I bet we'll meet him at the top box if that's really where we're going to sit."

Harry nodded eagerly. "Mr Weasley got the tickets for all of us."

"And he was okay with inviting me along?", I asked skeptically.

"Well... yeah. Mrs Weasley argued with him for some time until he gave in. Just to be sure though you probably shouldn't sit next to Ron."

"I wouldn't even if you payed me", I snorted.

"Are your parents here too?", Harry asked Luna.

The girl smiled mischievously. "No, they're not. I'll stay with you for the adult supervision."

"You're lucky you got a ticket, I heard they were gone pretty fast!"

"Yes, well, I was hunting Blibbering Humdingers in my back yard and found a ticket in one of its stomachs."

Harry shoot me a look that clearly asked: "Is she serious?"

For a moment I pondered if I should play along but in the end I just laughed heartily. Sure, Luna sounded crazy but I did know that monsters tended to drop items in PC games so I could totally picture her finding a ticket for the world cup in the stomach of a… whatever that was.

I followed Harry to the Weasleys tent where I was greeted most enthusiastically by the twins. Ron was sitting in a corner, glaring hatefully at me but not daring to try anything under his mothers watchful eyes.

On the way to the stadium we talked about Quidditch, Mr Weaselys work at the ministry, Quidditch, Krums awesome seeker skills, Quidditch and the summer camp. The twins and I would return there a day after the game. George concentrated on describing the dragons and Fred went into along story on how he had been chased by a Welsh Common and barely escaped it on his broom. The truth was that neither of the boys had seen much of the dragons. They were only a front for the battle simulations that we were holding, but the command was not to talk about that. We went into lengths about how Charlie would love to come over for a day or two and we all agreed it would be a great idea.

Harry was a little bit down that he couldn't see any of it. I smiled at him, patted his shoulder and said: "Only for Outtakes members."

Harry had thought more then once about joining the Outtakes again but then there was his Quidditch training and anyway he really liked spending his summer with the Weasleys. On the other hand the twins grades had dropped a lot in subjects like history, astronomy or divination (not that they had been very high to begin with). They made Oliver Wood furious by skipping the training more often. It wasn't that bad. Even without training they still worked together fabulously as a team but their spot on it was no longer guaranteed.

Fred and George begged me to give them a tip on how the game would end and since I was in a good mood I told them, however I also warned them not to make their bet with Bagman for he would try to cheat them. The game itself was pretty much the same as in the books. Before the Veela showed up (the gorgeous, absolutely breathtaking Veela!) I discretely put a sticking charm on my seat to prevent any embarrassment. Harry on the other hand, I let him almost jump down. Hey, it _was _funny.

As it should be there was the little house elf guarding the not-so-empty seat. I made sure that my wand was safe but I took care to notice when Harrys suddenly disappeared from his back pocket.

Ireland won but Krum caught the snitch. Fred and George were celebrating loudly until almost 3am. Then in the early hours of the night when everyone was finally asleep, screams became loud outside.

I was up in an instant and everyone was in a panic. The Death Eaters were attacking.

Of course they weren't real Death Eaters but Malfoy (Sr) with his buddies Crabbe and Goyle and a bunch of Durmstrang students form the camp. They were playing around with the muggles but everyone was so horrified of their white masks that they were running away instead of helping.

Following the plan I was staying close to Harry and Ron as we made our way to the forest. Somewhere along the way we picked up Luna who had deliberately separated herself from Ginny and Molly from the female tent. Then we had a great staged accident where Luna fell and 'broke' her ankle and I stayed behind to help her while Harry and Ron hurried to the forest. As soon as they were gone Luna was up and ready again, grinning at me.

"Okay", I said, "now where do we find Crouch Jr?"

Luna checked her minimap and we hurried after Harry and Ron but changed our route slightly so that we would come up in their back. I called Notch for the cloak and made us invisible. Then we just had to wait for the Death Eater to appear.

We didn't have to wait long. It was only faint but soon I could make out the footsteps of the invisible man. Lunas directions helped greatly. I counted from ten downwards and right on time the Dark Mark was cast. A moment later stunners flew everywhere. Since I wore my basilisk armor under my cloak (mainly in preparation for the upcoming breakout) I was able to shield Luna and myself. When the spells stopped it was my cue.

Luna directed me into the direction I had to go. Quickly I had found the unconscious Winky with Harrys wand in her hand and felt for the invisible body next to her. Together with it I notched into my vault. There I opened a chest that I had prepared yesterday and dumped the body of an unconscious muggle on the ground. A small vial of polyjuice and some hair from Jr turned the muggle into a death eater. Then I took a solid looking golden candleholder and smashed it on the back of the muggles head until he was dead. I had around half a minute left.

"Get over yourself", I sneered towards Notch, who was standing next to me, wringing his hands in fright. "It's just a dead muggle."  
"Why did Master have to...?"  
"I need a fresh corpse who looks like he smashed his head against a tree when falling from being hit with a stunner."

Quickly I covered the fake Jr corpse in the invisibility cloak again and notched back to the forest where I laid it down and stepped back just in time for the father coming to search for it.

Certainly there where better ways to fake a death but Crouch would be so glad to be rid of his son he would dispose of any evidence for me.

"Did everything go well?", Luna asked when I returned to her.

"Yes, let's go back to the Weasleys", I whispered. My future self should be attacking Azkaban right about now. I still had a long night before me. I had to reassure the Weasleys that I was alright, get another five hours of sleep, go back these five hours, wake up Jr and tell him where to find the original Voldemort so the timeline that was messed up with Pettigrews death would stay intact, tell him about the tournament, sent him on his way, go back yet _another _three hours, meet with my army and break into Azkaban. Yes, indeed, a long night.

"What do you think, Luna?", I mused aloud, "which identity should I take on when I talk to Jr?"

"Voldemort knows you as Charles only", she answered thoughtfully, "but thinks you're his horcrux who took over your body. If you want to keep him in the dark about the army a little longer that will do. If you want him to get in contact soon, it would have to be either the Raven or Lestat. Or", she giggled, "of course you could make up a new one too."

"Even I would lose count with too many alias", I admitted. "Although... I could call myself 'the Knight of Walpurgis' and pretend to be another Voldemort-spirit who came out of Charles Potter, having taken physical form to lead a secret army from the shadows..."

"Then you'd have Charles, the oblivious kid, Lestat, the ambitious genius and frontline Dark Lord, Raven, the eccentric and powerful but harmless crazy eremite and the Knight of Walpurgis, the secret mastermind."  
"Originally Lestat should be the mastermind but you're right, since he's leading the army together with Tom he's been way too bolt lately."

"And isn't that strange, talking about yourself in third person?"  
"Oh shut up", I laughed and ruffled her hair affectionately. "We don't really need a mastermind... yet. Let Voldemort think that's his job. Maybe it will prevent him from bringing out the giants and breaking the Statue of Secrecy."

"The Knight of Walpurgis... I like that one!"

"Maybe another time, dear."

XxX

9 hours later... or rather, 10 minutes ago.

Nekrys couldn't remember exactly how he had come to be in this position. He was a necromancer at heart, almost cliché in that he always stayed in the shadows, far away from action and unwanted attention. The aurors would have gotten him long time ago were any different. And now here he was taking part in an assault that could only be described as a declaration of war.

"If you don't mind", he said in a small voice, watching as the Raven leaped on the back of the big, if sickly-looking dragon, "I'd rather skip that mission, thank you."

"Don't be such a coward", the man sneered. At a hissed command the great, very much _dead _dragon lifted its head and slowly rose to tower over the poor necromancer.

"Get in already."

"You have no idea what will happen if we get caught riding that... that _thing. _Let alone if we let it attack anything, much less a well-guarded prison", he tried to reason.

"Which is why I need you to keep an eye on the disillusion ward. Now come on or the others will leave without us."  
Nekry very much doubted that the army would leave without its general but one look at the Raven's impatient face shut him up. Sighing deeply he stepped closer. The undead dragon lowered its head and opened its mouth wide. Nekrys shuddered at the sight of the two rows of sharp teeth before he called on all his courage and stepped over them.

He had to crawl a few short steps through the throat before he reached the belly. It was dark now but a lumos later he could see the reflections of the hundreds of tiny runes carved into the bones. There was no flesh around him anymore, not a single drop of blood. The dragon was but a skeleton. Raw skin was the only thing holding it together but it was a dragons skin and as such tougher then stone.

Nekrys found a few leather straps already in place next to some smooth bones that had been enchanted with cushioning charms. He bound his legs with the straps so he would be safe during flight. Then he looked ahead. Where the neck of the dragon would have to be a single piece of glass was stuck to the bones by magic. It was the remnants of a two-way-mirror and its counterpart was located somewhere on the outer side, showing the Raven's face.

"Ready?", he asked.

Nekrys didn't think he'd ever be ready for this but he nodded nonetheless.

Another hissing command and the ground under him shook. The necromancer felt his stomach sink as the dragon soured through the sky. He aimed with his wand carefully and activated a set of runes that would disillusion the dragon. Shortly after he felt a surge of magic and knew that they had passed the portal. It was a mix of flooing and the magic connecting two vanishing cabinets that was at work here to create a stable portal that could transport something as big as a dragon as long as they didn't have to pass through major wards.

Even inside the skeleton Nekrys could feel the coldness of the sea as they were getting closer to the fortress. The dementors awaited them.

XxX

Bellatrix Lestrange was sitting in her cell, humming to herself and counting the bricks of the wall in front of her. Not that she didn't already know exactly how many there were. She knew every stain, every crack and every line her nails had carved into the stone.

The soul-eaters were strangely absent today. Without the constant screaming in her head it was almost... boring. It had been like this ever since her cousin had left. She had no one to taunt anymore across the corridor.

Suddenly there was a booming sound and the ground shook under her. Bellatrix stumbled to her feet. She hurried to the cell door. Was the prison under attack? Had her Lord finally come to safe her? Oh, she had waited for him this long. Of course she'd known he'd come, she'd always known. She was his favorite after all.

Another loud crash and Bellatrix was thrown against the bars as a something like a giant club with spikes of some sort seemed to pound on the stone wall. It gave away as if it was paper and when the witch hurried to look through her new window she couldn't help but cackle madly when she saw the _dragon _that dug its claws into the tower and did its best to deal as much damage as possible. On its back she could make out the tiny outline of a rider.

Azkaban was under attack. Her master had come to free her.

There was the sound of explosions. Her door war ripped from its frame and she was met with the sight of a cloaked figure. She couldn't see his face for he wore a black mask, concealing everything but his eyes. It wasn't the uniform of the Death Eaters but then again it was close enough and it had been over ten years. Hadn't it?

"Bellatrix Lestrange?", the foreign voice asked.

"You bet I am", she replied grinning.

"Today is the beginning of the Great Liberation. Go and search for a dragon to ride on."

"Where is my master?", she wanted to know.

"You will meet him soon enough."

Bellatrix had barely time enough to wonder where the guards where. She hurried out of her cell, grabbed Rabastan and Rudolphus and began searching for a dragon.

"Bella, what's going on!?"

"This is the day!", she rejoiced. "The Lord came to safe us!"

She noticed another few cloaked figures who seemed to be organizing the evacuation. Most of the prisoners were sent to the lower levels and to the shore where a few boats were apparently waiting for them. Undoubtedly she was receiving special treatment by riding a dragon. A dragon! Her Lord was truly marvelous.

Suddenly the three of them stopped in a corridor. There was one of the cloaked ones, ordering people around and coordinating a group of cloaks fighting with prisoners who where either out of their mind or stupid enough to reject the help of the Death Eaters. This leader however made her stop. He had shoved his mask to the top of his head and she could see his face – it was Sirius.

"You!?", she screeched, pointing at the disgrace of the House of Black. Of course she knew what he'd done but she had never been convinced that he was actually on their side. If anything, his treason had lead to her Lord losing his body.

"Bella", Sirius said with a hatefulglare.

"What are you-"  
"No time for this." He growled but waved them away. "Over there up the stairs and then the next one right. Get out of here already."

For a second she couldn't believe her ears. How many years had she listened to him whining about being innocent? About being different from her? How much he hated and despised her and her Lord? If he had ever been a servant, she thought he must have lost all of his dignity in the cold prison by cursing his name. And now he was helping her? It didn't make any sense.

Her husband muttered something in her ear she didn't understand and pulled her further. Lethargically she followed him up to the tower. On her way they passed a few wizards who were busy stabilizing the broken ceiling but didn't pay them any mind. Just how large was her Lords army already?

Just as they entered the platform of the tower, a green dragon took flight. Over twenty people were sitting on its back, hanging from his legs and lying in a net that was hovering under the beast's belly.

A roar caught their attention and a second later another dragon, this one pale and bony with around a dozen passengers landed on the roof, which shook from the impact. There was a raven haired man sitting right in the curve of the neck who now spoke with a magically amplified voice:  
"How many are there left in this part?"  
"Five prisoners", one of the wizards who was making sure the building didn't collapse too early shouted back. "There are seven of us, the rest has been sent to other posts."

"I'll take you with me. Hurry and get them assembled!"

The passengers wanted to help Bella into the net but she refused and insisted on sitting on the back, right behind the person who was obviously the leader of this unit.

"Did my Lord sent you here?", Bella wanted to know eagerly. "How is he?"

"Alive and kicking", the man replied flippantly. "Though I don't know why you would be so eager to meet him."

"Of course I do! And don't you dare speaking about him in such a way!"

The insufferable guy merely chuckled. "Bella, dear, you got yourself imprisoned questioning a family with a baby who was in hiding and thus wouldn't know who was minister let alone if their order abducted your Lord. How do you think he took that?"

Bella blanched. "But – But I was thinking -"

"I don't care what you thought and neither will he. You failed. You will have to start from the very bottom again if you ever want to come close enough to lick his shoes again."

Her cousin Sirius was stepping onto the roof in that moment, slightly out of breath.

"The aurors have arrived on the first level", he reported. "We have one minute."

"Then we better not waste it." He turned to Bella. "Get moving." She looked at him indignantly but he just shoved her to the side.  
Sirius pulled himself up and took Bellas place behind the leader with a smug look.

"I am Bellatrix Lestrange! I am the Dark Lord right hand! You can't treat me like that!", she screeched angrily. If she had a wand she would've killed her traitorous cousin right here and now.

"He managed to live without his right hand. Or his left. Or his legs and head and torso. Face it girl, you're replaceable", the dirty dog answered grinning.

"Shut up, children", the leader scolded them. Bella noticed that he sported a remarking resemblance to the dead James Potter, Sirius' best friend. But there was no way those two would go and break all the prisoners out of prison. Not even for a trap.

The the poor, confused Bella got the shock of her life when the Potter-guy hissed an order in _parseltongue _to get the dragon to take off. It couldn't be... was _he _her Lord? No. Nonononono. That was too horrible a thought even for her.


End file.
